Gibson Corporation is one of the leaders in guitar production. Over the years, it has managed to set new trends in guitars, and produced the firsts of their kinds. One of its major successes, is the Gibson Thunderbird electric bass guitar.
The Gibson Thunderbird was first introduced in 1963, together with the Firebird guitar which basically resembles the Gibson Thunderbird in design and construction. The main difference is that the Thunderbird is an electric guitar. Although the Gibson Thunderbird fell behind twelve years from the Precision Bass which was produced by Fender, the Gibson Thunderbird definitely did not fall short of any expectations.
The basic design of the Thunderbird is that of a neck wood that went through the entire body of the guitar, which is being glued in place. The production of the Gibson Thunderbird with a scale of 34 inches, is an improvement over the previous Gibson bass guitars which have only a scale of 30 ½ inches. There were originally two models of the Gibson Thunderbird, these being the Thunderbird II, with one pick-up; and Thunderbird IV, with two pick-ups.
The design and construction of the Gibson Thunderbird underwent a revolution, as its design was changed in 1966 due to a lawsuit that was filed by Fender because of its resemblance to one of its products, the Fender Jazzmaster. This has caused the design of the body of the Thunderbird to be changed to ‘non-reverse’, as opposed to its original reverse body design. However, the production of the revised Gibson Thunderbird guitars was discontinued in 1969. In 1976, the Thunderbird, in its original reverse form, was reissued as a bicentennial edition, and continued production until 1979. It was again discontinued since then. However, in 1987, the Gibson Thunderbird models were introduced again, with the Thunderbird IV, and the Nikki Six Signature Thunderbird IV in its line. Both of these models have two pick-ups and have retained the reverse bodies.
Perhaps, the most attractive feature that the Gibson Thunderbird models have is the high pick-up that they possess, enabling these guitars to produce a stronger signal than the other active basses. Moreover, the Thunderbird pick-ups are said to be indestructible, thus no replacement pick-ups are released in the market by Gibson Corporation. Today, the current Gibson Thunderbird, represented by Thunderbird IV is made from either mahogany or walnut. To form its body, wings made from mahogany are attached to it.
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